J.A.M.

Our Sunday School at Cambridge Methodist Church supports Emmanuel Mission led by Brenda and Geoffrey Crompton. This is an organisation that looks after the welfare of a few rural schools in the East London area. Each November a few of the teachers from Sunday School get together and head out to one of the schools to give them a Christmas Party. We were told that the party would be held at the usual venue this year which is out on the East Coast road. Numbers had increased and we were asked to cater for around 250 children. We asked at Church for people to assist by baking cakes and on Monday this week a large number of cakes drifted in to the Church Office. On Monday afternoon we were informed that there had been a mix-up with the dates and that we could no longer host the party on Tuesday as another party had been planned for the kids by a Government Department. We were in a bit of a dilemma as we had no idea what to do with all the cake. We considered handing it out at the Children’s Home in the area as well as the Old Age Home.  Brenda Crompton came to the rescue however and told us of a small school somewhere near the Airport and so just after 9am on Tuesday morning we found ourselves on the road to Fort Grey Public Primary School. It turned out to be a very rewarding and humbling morning.

Fort Grey Public School

We were greeted by the Principal and once all the cakes, chips and cool drinks had been offloaded we were treating to a presentation of Christmas Carols in both English and Afrikaans by the School Choir.

Singing Christmas Carols In English & Afrikaans

Conditions at the school are not good but instead of the staff and pupils sitting back and waiting for someone to help them they have made it work on their own! Classes are held under the trees and the scorching sun as well as in a few makeshift classrooms which are most times quite overcrowded. Helen and I went along as our alter ego’s – Norman and Blossom and sang a few songs for them and I used the old disappearing ball magic trick to explain the concept of sin. This went down very well and their amazement at the disappearance of the ball was rather humorous.Being interpreted as we went along was great fun!

Norman & Blossom

Norman & Blossom

While some of the teachers were handing out the eats we had taken along for their party, I walked around the school ground taking photographs. The one classroom’s carpets are in a mess. The ‘carpet’ is made up of a number of carpet tiles which have become very damaged as a result of the rain coming through the ceiling which has holes in it. The toilets are little tin ‘huts’ next to the main classroom and the kitchen is really not a kitchen as we know it in the City.

The Kitchen

Damaged Carpeting In The Main Classroom

The Ceiling In The Main Classroom

One of the teachers explained to me that they do receive a small grant from the Government but it hardly covers the daily running costs for the 200 plus children ranging from Grade R up to Grade 7. They rely mainly on donations from the public and sustain themselves through a little vegetable patch which they have grown on the property. Thinking of our kids in the City and looking at the faces we saw yesterday is a humbling thing and I think we can all learn a lot from them.

The Vegetable Patch

Have a look at the photo’s on this page as well as the full set of photo’s on my Facebook Album found here and then please, if you or someone you know of is in a position to assist them, please get in touch with me so that I can put you in touch with them. Perhaps someone you know can provide them with roofing, carpeting, desks  or chairs to make their schooling experience a bit more comfortable.

Look At Her Eyes